Christopher

chest (Latin cista, Greek kiste) 

A Box-like container, corresponding also 

to the Latin area (see ARK) . 

The mystic chest of Dionysus (see BAccHus) - probably a basket rather than a wooden chest - was filled with symbolic objects and carried by special priests known as kistophoroi; 

when The Mysteries of Dionysus were celebrated, 

a SNAKE emerged from it. 

The image of Demeter (Latin Ceres) as worshipped in 

the Eleusinian mysteries shows the goddess seated on a chest. In the Roman period the cista became a general symbol for esoteric mystical religions. The anatomical meaning of the English word "chest" is an extension of this same ety- mology. chi-rho A monogram derived from the first two Greek letters in the name of Christ, which resemble the Roman letters X and P; the chi-rho has been a symbol of Christian- ity since the time of Constantine I, fre- quently appearing on church banners (see FLAG), often within a CIRCLE or a victor's WREATH. On the LABARUM (the banner of the CROSS), the chi-rho was said to have accompanied Constantine's victory over Maxentius in A. D. 312, after the prophecy to Constantine "In hoc signo vinces" ("Un- der this sign will you be victorious"), but its earlier use has been documented. It sym- bolizes the universal victory of Christianity or the victory of the Savior over the domi- nation of sin. The chi-rho is at times placed within a triple circle (a reference to the TRINITY), with the ALPHA AND OMEGA on either side. Within a circle the monogram also has the effect of a WHEEL-like symbol for the SUN, which heightens its triumphal character. chimera or Chimaera In present-day usage only a symbol of imaginings or rumor; in Chi-Rho: early Christian catacomb painting with doves and olive branches Chi -Rho: the monogram of Christ antiquity, a monster part LION, part GOAT, and part SERPENT (the Etruscan "Chimera of Arezzo" having one head from each of these animals). The Chimera is said to be the daughter of Echidna, who was part ser- pent and part woman, and Typhon, a mon- ster from the underworld; her brother was the HELL-hound Cerberus. According to Robert Graves, her TRIADIC form symbolizes the divisions of the year: the lion corre- sponding to spring, the goat to summer, and the serpent to winter. In the myth, the Chimera was killed by the hero Bellerophon riding on his WINGED HORSE PEGASUS; BeI- lerophon was thus a pre-Christian prototype of such DRAGON-slayers as St. George and St. Michael. Chimeras appear occasionally in medieval mosaics (and in the capitals of pillars and columns) as embodiments of Sa- tanic forces. In antiquity the terrifying mon- ster appeared in the coats of arms of several cities, including Corinth and Cyzicus. The rationalistic interpretation of the tripartite creature saw her as the embodiment of the dangers of land and sea, but above all of the volcanic forces in the EARTH'S interior. Chimera. Etruscan bronze, 4th century B.C. 

Christopher, Saint 

The personification of a saintly legend, behind which there stands no historically documented person. 

Nevertheless, the legendary saint was venerated as early as the fifth century and is counted among the "14 catholic saints."

There are accounts that identify him as a GIANT named Offero or Reprobus of the savage race of the Cynocephali (dog-headed), who would offer his services only to The Strongest; a KING and The DEVIL 

proved to be timid, and only the Christ chiIld remained. 

The Giant was to carry him across a RIVER (an image of transition; see AFTERLIFE), and The Child became so heavy that he pulled The Giant under The Surface of The WATER, baptising him 'Christopher' ("The Bearer of Christ") in The Process.

He is said to have died A Martyr's Death under The Emperor Decius; his day was July 25. Christopher was portrayed as a giant with a leafy staff or stake in his hand (sym- bolizing justification through divine grace) and on his shoulder the Christ child, who is holding The Imperial APPLE, Symbol of The World. 

Frescoes depicting St. Christopher are common inside churches, which is ex- plained by the popular belief that anyone seeing Christopher's image would not die on that day; this encouraged frequent visits to churches. Christopher thus came to be seen as offering protection against sudden death; hence his modern status as patron saint of travelers. Iconographic prototypes may in- clude late Egyptian portrayals of the dog- headed Anubis with the child Horus, or 68 Chronus Saint Christopher. Woodcut, Buxheim, 1531 images of Hercules with the child Eros (CUPID) on his shoulder. The legendary .saint is an image of the witnessing believer who bears Christ through the world and thus attains salvation. The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine (ca. 1270) gives the following ac- count of him: "He carried Christ in four ways: on his shoulders, when he transported him over the water; in his body, through the mortification to which he submitted himself; in his spirit, through his fervent prayers; in his mouth, through his witness and his sermons." In the Jewish and Islamic faiths the ancestral father ABRAHAM, who will serve only the greatest master and thus comes to know God, in this respect plays a role analogous to that of Christopher. (See also STARS.) 

Chronus The personification of Time, often not distinguished ftom the God Cronus (Latin SATURN); Saturn was thus often portrayed with symbols of transitoriness, which are properly the attributes of Chronus: the hour- glass and the SCYTHE. Cronus, who devoured his children, became a symbol of Time, which Creates and then destroys. 

In ancient mysterious religions, Chronus was a primeval god of the cosmos, also known as Eon (orig- inally Aron or Aeon); this Chronus was believed 

to have emerged from The DARKNESS 

to create The World, 

making a primordial SILVER EGG out of the ether. 

The figure of The Time-Guardian Chronus appears on many baroque clocks. The fleeting nature of passing time is often suggested by his WINGS, its cruel inevitability by The Scythe with which Cronus (in Hesiod's theogony) had castrated the primeval god -- His Father -- Uranus; drops of Uranus' BLOOD seeped into the ground, and from them the FURIES (Greek Erinyes) arose. chrysanthemum In East Asia a prized flower: in Japan an imperial emblem, and in China a symbol of autumn, as the PLUM- blossom is of spring. Its Chinese name (cha) is a homonym for "wait, linger" and suggests reflective contemplation, an association that is found in poetry as well: "0 yellow chry- santhemums, in the light from my little lamp you have grown quite pale," or "In late splendor do chrysanthemums bloom. " State attire was often decorated with designs containing chrysanthemums. Rebus-like messages of good will or congratulations were built on homonymies linking "PINE" and "chrysanthemum" ("May you have long life"), or "nine," "quail," and "chrysanthe- mum" ("May nine generations live together in peace.") A European wildflower variety, the tansy (Chrysanthemum vulgare), was used in folk-medicine against intestinal worms but is used today only for garden decoration. cicada (Greek tettix) The "tree cricket" of the Mediterranean region. According to Greek myth, Tithonus, the brother of King Priam of Troy, was the lover of EOS, the goddess of dawn. She asked Zeus to make Chronus as an angel. St. Hawes, The Pastyme of Plea- sure, 1509 Cicada ornament, symbolizing immortality. China, ca. 1200 B. C. Tithonus immortal but forgot to ask that he might remain forever young. He therefore lived forever, but became more and more feeble, mumbling to himself meaninglessly, until he shriveled up and was transformed into the constantly chirping cicada. The literature of antiquity sometimes describes the high-pitched drone of the insect as pleasant, sometimes as annoying. For Cal- limachus (ca. 300-240 B.C.), the sound symbolized "elevated" poetry; the cicada, in various contexts, stood for the tireless poet, was his helper, or appeared as an attribute of the MUSES. In ancient China the cicada (shan) sym- bolized immortality or life after death; a JADE amulet representing a cicada was placed in the mouth of the dead. A queen of the Cicada singing from the summer heat. J. &schius, 1702 circle 69 vassal state of Ch'i in the east was said to have been transformed into a cicada when she died; for this reason, the insect was also known as "the maiden of Ch'i." A stylized cicada ornament also represented "loyalty to one's principles." Circe A Greek demigoddess and the quin- tessential enchantress (see WITCH); the daughter of the SUN god Helios. She was said to have transformed men whom she loved into animals; she turned Picus, the son of SATURN, into a woodpecker. She did not manage to transform Glaucus when he requested a love-elixir from her, but she did change the nymph Scylla, whom he loved, into a hideous monster, the bane of seafarers (see WATER SPIRITS) . Circe is best known for her adventure with Odysseus, whose men she turns into swine (see PIG). Only Odys- seus himself-protected by the magic herb moly, which Hermes (see MERCURY) had given him-was impervious to her spell. He forced her to reverse the transformation of his men, spent a year with the enamored sorceress, and was finally freed by her and sent on with useful advice. Circe came to symbolize the seductive woman whose en- chantment leads her admirers to forget their dignity. circle Arguably the most important and most widespread geometric symbol; its form also corresponds to that of the SUN and MOON as they appear to us. In the specula- Circle: Cosmos, zodiac. R. LuHi's Practica compendiosa artis, 1523 70 circle Circle: Mausoleum decorations. Ireland (Sess Kill- green), Brittany (Gavr' Inis) tive philosophies of the Platonists and the Neoplatonists, the circle is the ultimate, the perfect form. The legendary Hyperborean temple of Apollo is described as circular (a reference to the prehistoric Stonehenge in southern England?), and the capital of Pla- to's "island of ATLANTIS" as a system of concentric rings of land and WATER. In mys- tic systems God is spoken of as a circle whose center is everywhere-an expression of per- fection and of surpassing human understand- ing (limitlessness, eternity, the absolute). In the circle there is no beginning or end, no direction. The "canopy" of the HEAVENS (see BALDACHIN) is represented as a round Circle: Reconstruction of shrine at Stonehenge. Southern England, ca. 1800 B. C. dome (partly because of the circular trajec- tory of the STARS around the celestial pole), and thus the circle also stands for heaven and all things spiritual. When spokes are drawn in, it becomes a symbolic WHEEL, which however carries dynamic associations opposed to the permanence of the circle. The Egyptian symbol for eternity is a string tied to form a circle; the corresponding sym- bol in the world of the ancient Greeks was a SNAKE biting its own tail (UROBORUS) . Concentric circles arise also when an object is thrown into the water. The frequent de- signs of this sort on megalithic gravestones can be interpreted as representations of sink- ing into the seas of death (see AFTERLIFE), or perhaps of miraculously re-emerging from them, suggesting a doctrine of death and rebirth, symbolized by concentric waves. A Circles inscribed with names of God, to repel demons. England, ca. 1860 circle with its center drawn in is the tradi- tional astronomer's symbol for the sun, and the alchemist's for the solar metal, GOLD. In magic lore the circle (drawn around the conjuring magician and not to be crossed throughout the ceremony) is supposed to serve as protection against evil spirits. The symbological opposite of the circle is the SQUARE, which is associated with the terrestrial world and things material. The circle stands for God and heaven, the square for humans and the earth. The proverbial task of "squaring the circle," constructing a circle (by purely geometric means) that has the same area as a given square, thus offers an image of human efforts to transform their own substance into that of God, and thus to render themselves divine. This insoluble problem in geometry was a frequent Renais- sance allegory for human striving for divine perfection, one that was also of great im- portance in the symbolism of ALCHEMY. Without going into the problem of equal areas, the Cabala also treats the circle and the square: a circle inside a square is seen as symbolizing the divine "SPARK" within a material envelope. In Christian iconography the halo (NIMBUS) around the head of a saint is usually circular, and concentric cir- cles also represent God's original creation. The first represents the earth, where humans will be placed only later, and God draws it with a drafting COMPASS (in the Bible Mor- alisee of the 13th century), or he reveals himself in the form of a HAND, which emerges from the center of multiple circles and breaks through them "transcendentally" on the pe- riphery (Romanesque fresco, St. Climent de Tahull, Catalonia, ca. 1123). Naturally, the importance of the circle as a symbol is not restricted to Occidental culture. For various Native American peo- ples, the orbit of the moon, and the appar- ent orbits of the sun and the stars, are round forms, and such forms appear in the way things grow in nature. Thus the camp, the teepee, and seating arrangements are all based on the circle. It is not uncommon to find traditional dances following (or gener- ating) circles. In Zen Buddhism the circle stands for enlightenment, the perfection of humanity in unity with the primal principle. In the Chinese symbol of YIN AND YANG, duality is enclosed in a circle (t'ai-chi, the primal One) . In Europe the notion of con- centric cosmic spheres dominates medieval cosmology and is represented poetically in Dante's Divine Comedy in the form of the "circles" of HELL, PURGATORY, and heaven; the hierarchies of ANGELS serve as guardians of these spheres and thus of the entire struc- ture. The TRINITY is often symbolized by three mutually intersecting circles. (See also MANDALA and SPIRAL.) city 71 city One criterion for some cultural his- torians seeking to determine whether a na- tion or people can be referred to as having attained "civilization." A city is not simply an agglomeration of fixed houses; it is also defined by central civil and religious orga- nization, and in some cases by the presence of city walls. For the symbologist, the city is a reflection in miniature of cosmic struc- tures, not sprung up in a totally random way, but laid out systematically, having at its center a terrestrial counterpart of the midpoint of the heavens (see OMPHALOS, MUNDUS, AXIS MUNDI). At this center we often find the shrine of the tutelary god of the city (in China: ch'eng huang-shen) or of a god-like hero, a local deity who ranks with KINGS. We find this not only in the Greek city-state (polis) but also in ancient Meso- potamia and Egypt. When an empire is established, the tutelary god of the central polis often becomes the god of the entire realm, bringing the gods of other cities into the pantheon over which he presides; the EMPEROR is then the earthly representative of this ruling deity. To a very limited extent, in the Christian world the patron saint of a city takes on something of the role played by the tutelary gods of old. The ideal city of the Western world is JERUSALEM, with BABYLON its ancient op- posite, subsequently replaced by heathen City: Assyrian portrayal of a Phoenician city. Nine- veh, 8th century B.C. 72 clouds Rome. The "city of God" is also a symbol of "Mary, Mother of God," and in the Middle Ages tabernacles and shrines for rel- ics were often constructed like cities, with decorative walls and miniature towers. In the symbology of the psyche, the city stands for the regularized center of a person's life, which can often be reached only after long travels, when a high degree of emo- tional maturity has been attained and the GATE to the spiritual center of one's life can be traversed